UN Delegates Cheer Mugabe Tirade

Mon, Oct 17, 2005 at 8:25:09 am PDT

The United Nations invited Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe to a conference in Rome, where, to an audience of applauding UN delegates, he gave a speech comparing Bush and Blair to Hitler and Mussolini.

“Must we allow these men, the two unholy men of our millennium, who in the same way as Hitler and Mussolini formed [an] unholy alliance, form an alliance to attack an innocent country?” asked Mr Mugabe, apparently referring to Iraq.

“The voice of Mr Bush and the voice of Mr Blair can’t decide who shall rule in Zimbabwe, who shall rule in Africa, who shall rule in Asia, who shall rule in Venezuela, who shall rule in Iran, who shall rule in Iraq,” he said.

Mr Mugabe said his land reforms, which enabled the government to seize hundreds of farms owned mostly by white Zimbabweans, had been part of a process to correct colonial injustices.

He blamed agricultural subsidies offered to farm produce from developed countries for crippling “the development of agriculture in developing countries”.

Delegates applauded Mr Mugabe at the end of his speech.